@JLeslie No, they aren’t all average. @CWOTUS is correct. If we have a median net worth of 170K for those 65 or older, then the average net worth is probably millions or more. Averages usually give the wrong impression, and that’s why we use median. It shows the middleth person’s net worth.
@janbb No. No one is expecting a person to live for the rest of their lives on that net worth. People will have to continue to work probably until they die. I’m guessing, and this is off the top of my head, that you net a net worth of upwards of $800K at age 65 in order to be able to retire without having to work any more. And that’s with a low standard of living—expenses of maybe 50–60K per year. People may choose to work in retirement, but I think most people are going to be forced to work in retirement. This is because most people don’t save nearly as much as they could (spend now, why worry about later?) and because the economy has killed a lot of people’s retirement savings.
I think this is a scary net worth. It means that the vast majority of people (I’m assuming a leftward skew to the net worth curve) will never really be able to retire. They will have to work, and when they become disabled, they will end up in nursing homes on Medicaid—which our children and grand children will have to pay for. Many will refuse to go, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an uptick in suicides among the elderly in the next few decades.
You’re only going to be able to develop a good retirement plan if you’ve been saving since you were in your 20s. By the time you are at age 65, it’s too late to develop enough retirement savings. You will have to work as long as you can. Retirement will only be for the upper middle class and the wealthy, and of course, these are the ones who will want to work. They have interesting jobs.
I hope I’m wrong. For myself, my wife and I have been saving since our thirties (when we married) and it has put us in a position where we may not have to work past age 65 if we don’t want to. Actually, my wife has “retired” already (she’s over 50 and quit a horrible job), but she’s looking for work that is a better fit for her. I had been planning to retire early, but due to the economy, that plan is on hold. A guy can dream, can’t he?